


A Whole New World

by Fan_FictionGirl1



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Battle, Culture, Family, Friendship, Other, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:00:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23042899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fan_FictionGirl1/pseuds/Fan_FictionGirl1
Summary: He grew up in one world.Now another has found him.~Poppin is a Cybertronian.But he doesn't know that.To him, his world revolves around his family, his life on earth, and his secrecy. For all he knows, he is just a giant robot a mysterious someone created and set free. He doesn't know of his origin, or even how he functions. But he knows he has feelings. He knows he has a home. And despite the feeling of curiosity about himself in the back of his mind, he is content. He is happy.But then he is found.Team Prime never imagined they would find someone like him. They never dreamed another one of their own kind, one so young, had made it out of Cybertron and lived. But what surprises them most is his ignorance, ignorance of his own race, and of the war that his people have been fighting.And a discovery like surely is not to come slowly.Nor will it come without consequences.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 49





	1. Before

Everything felt so.. new. He was surrounded by an unfamiliar setting, both frightening and comforting at the same time. He was surrounded by tall beams coated by something brown and flakey. He sat on the ground which was covered in a soft blanket of green fuzz. The sky above him was growing darker, but hints of the bright ball that rose and fell from the sky still remained. The colors in the sky were bright and kind of matched his color scheme. 

He looked down at his plates, the bright colors reflecting off of his visor. He frowned beneath the facial mask, the one he didn't know how to remove. How long had it been since he had awoken? He couldn't really remember. He knew what time was like here now; 24 one hour cycles. He had learned a few things by listening in to the tiny, squishy, adorable creatures that lived on this world. 

Whatever world he was on.

He felt so out of place here. He knew he didn't really belong, he wasn't like the other. He wasn't like the cute furry things that ran away from him. He wasn't like the intelligent two-legged beings that seemed to rule in several places, the ones he somehow felt he should hide from. He was something.. mechanical, if he heard that one being right.

Maybe it wasn't so bad. It was rather peaceful in this place of 'nature'. He didn't like being lonely, but he supposed it could be worse. He wished there was something to do, but it was alright, what he was doing now. Every day, he would leave the giant orb he had seem to come in, go out and explore, and then sit in this place until he was ready to go back. If he counted right, he knew that he had been here for... one hundred of those 24 hour cycles. 

Strangely, every time a new cycle arrived, he felt a little more drained of energy. Every time the giant fireball rose in the sky and a new cycle began, something bright flashed in his visor, a small beeping playing around him as if to warn him of something. He assumed the bright dots and lines were words, but he couldn't read them. He didn't know what the sound meant either. Each cycle, it grew louder and more infuriating. He wished it would go away, but he didn't know to make it do so.

And he was getting a little too tired to care.

Maybe it had something to do with the glowing spheres back in his broken orb? Each day, when he looked at the giant stockpile, he felt some urge, growing stronger and stronger as time went by. It made him wonder if had anything to do with him, if he needed it, or if he truly even wanted it. Thinking about it now, it frustrated him that he didn't know these things.

Shouldn't he know where he came from? What he was? Who he was? Where he was?

Mostly he just wanted someone to talk to. 

Sighing behind the mask, he turned to look at one of the tall beams, or 'trees' if he had overheard that correctly. On one of it's extending pieces was a small furry creature, so tiny he could lift it with the tip of his finger. It had a puffy tail and a tiny face, with cute black eyes. He thought the creature was adorable.  
"I don't suppose you'd like to talk with me?" he said aloud, leaning over a little to get a better look at it. "If you're not busy, little guy." 

The little critter stared at him for a moment, but as he moved, it became frightened and scampered away, making shrill little noises as it fled. He was a little startled by its sudden movement, leaning forward even more in desperation.

"Hold on! I'm not scary!" he pleaded, looking for it in the mop of green. "Was it something I said?" He continued to look for it, but when he realized that it was gone, he sighed and slumped in defeat. 

Then he heard a noise. 

He perked up, looking back to the tree to see if it was the tiny thing. However, when it did not return, he realized the noise was coming from somewhere else. He couldn't identify what the sound was coming from, but he could tell it was getting closer. Whatever it was was coming right for him. He tilted his head curiously, wondering if it was another one of those lean red creatures with the big tails, long snouts, big ears, and skinny legs. He soon found out that it was coming very fast, growing quicker and quicker as it approached.   
Then it popped out of the bushes and trees into the more open clearing where he sat.  
It was a two-legged creature! He recognized it's soft skin and squishy appearance, and because it where some sort of material around its body. However, he noticed that this one was considerably smaller than the ones he saw wandering around the stone and metal structures. It looked.. younger and fresher, almost, it's skin shinier and softer and it's eyes wider and brighter. It had a mess of curly light brown hair on the top of its head, pulled up and held in place on the top. It was shorter and wider than most of the ones he had seen before. Now that he thought about it, he remembered he had seen some of the bigger two-legs leading smaller ones like this one around, holding it's hands or even picking them up. 

He also noticed that it looked very distraught and upset, it's eyes wet. It was covered in the brown dirt that was under the blanket of green fuzz, and the material it had covered itself with was torn in some places. A red ooze seemed to be leaking from it's arm, and the two-leg fondled it pitifully. When it looked up at him, sitting slouched forward with his legs spread out across the ground and his arms on the ground in front of him, it's eyes widened and it froze where it stood.

He tilted his head more, wondering why this one was acting different that what he had observed. "Is something wrong, little thing?" he asked curiously, leaning forward. 

The small two-leg critter suddenly let out a high pitched noise, scrambling backwards in fright. It was then that he remembered he was suppose to be hiding from these things, and he grew a little scared, too. Was this loud noise going to hurt him?? He sat up and skootched backwards, wondering if these things were possibly dangerous to him. 

The creature noticed this, and stopped making the noise. However, it continued to move backward slowly. Suddenly, it tripped and fell, landing on it's behind. It let out another loud cry, but this one was different. It made him want to comfort the poor thing.

He slowly leaned forward again. He wondered for a moment what would make him appear less dangerous. Maybe if he tried to make himself smaller? Could he do that? He slowly leaned forward more and more, until his front was on the ground. He placed his chin on the green fuzz and put his hands beside his head, just in front of the little thing. It watched him, no longer looking so afraid. 

"Sorry," he said in what he hoped was a smaller voice. "Did I scare you?"

It stared at him for a few moments, its eyes wide. It looked surprised, and he wondered why that was. He guessed it was because the little one probably had never seen something like him before. It sat up straight, not shaking anymore, and tilted his head at him for a moment. Then, its face scrunched up into a frown and it crossed its arms over its small chest. 

"Yeah, you scared me!" it cried in a high pitched voice. 

He frowned sadly, apology in his voice as he spoke. "I didn't mean to. I scare lots of things without meaning to. What's so scary about me?" he asked, genuinely wanting to know.

The little one seemed a little unprepared for that question, looking a little bewildered. It put on a very focused face for a moment, which he thought was rather cute, before its eyes brightened and looked up at him again. "Because you're so BIG! And you have a weird face!"

"I have a weird face?!" he cried in horror, lifting his head a little. He touched his visor and his face mask. Did he have a face under there? Or was that his face? He figured he had something under it.

"Yeah!" it confirmed. "Where are your eyes?"

He blinked, a little confused. "Eyes.. you mean like yours?" he asked, pointing to her eyes.

It tilted it's head, confused. "Yeah, these are my eyes," it said, pointing to them. "And this is my nose, and this is my mouth, and these are my ears, and these are my eyebrows, and this is my forehead!" it exclaimed, pointing to each part. "Where are yours?"

He repeated her gestures, touching the same areas she had. "I think.. I think they are under my mask and my visor." He set down his hand and rested his chin on the ground again. "I don't know why. Is it really that scary?" he asked, a little upset. 

"Well..," it muttered, pondering over it and looking at him fervently, "not really. It was scary before, but now it's not so scary." It paused, tapping its chin. "You are kinda cute too, in a weird way."

He perked up, excitement and relief flooding into his chest. "Really?"

It shrugged, but it smiled. "Yeah, kinda! But only a little bit."

It was still a win for him. "Thanks, little thing!"

It frowned at him again, looking angry. "I'm not a little thing!" it protested. "I'm a girl!"

His curiosity got the better of him again. "Oh, a girl! So, like.. you're a she? And I'm a he!" he said, feeling excited that he was learning something.

The girl nodded, satisfied. "Yeah, I'm a she, and you're a he. You're a weird boy, though." 

"Why am I weird?" he asked.

"Well, cus you're so big. And you look like a robot. But bigger."

He was a little surprised by these words. A robot? He had never heard of the term before. He looked like.. a robot? Did that mean there were more like him? But she said he was bigger than other robots. What did that mean?

"I'm.. a robot? Is that what I am?" he asked, wondering if this litte girl knew. 

She seemed to be a little confused by this as well, thinking it over for a big. "Well.. you're a weird robot, too. Robots don't talk much. And they do as you say, I think. You don't really do what I say, and you talk a lot."

He felt a little disappointed, but at the same time, he was a little glad he was different from what she described the other robots. He tilted his head at her, wondering what she was. Surely two-leg wasn't the right term. Didn't he have two legs too?

"What are you?" he asked. 

She like she could hardly believe he was ask such a question. "I'm a human, duh!" she said, pointing at her chest with the arm with wasn't leaking red stuff. "I'm a human girl!"

"Oh," he replied, feeling a little relieved to finally know what kind of creature she was. "Well, it's nice to meet you, little human girl!"

"That's not my name!" she said loudly, looking even more upset. "I'm Sarah!"

"You have.. a name?" he asked, now even more confused. It was like he was going round in circles. He pushed himself off of the ground, sitting up and crossing his legs. "So, you are a human girl, but you're called something else?" he asked, making gestures with his hands. 

She nodded her head. "Yeah! Everyone has a name. Don't you have one?" 

He deflated, now feeling upset himself. If he was called something, he didn't know what it was. "If I do, I don't know what it is," he said sadly, defeat in his voice. "I don't even know what kind of creature I am. I'm not a human, but I'm not a robot, and I'm much too big to be either anyways, apparently." He frowned behind his mask and hung his head dejectedly.

The young girl realized that he was upset and her face grew softer, looking a little guilty. She hadn't meant to make him sad. "Hey," she called. "I didn't mean to make you sad. Don't be sad! I'm sorry I called you weird!" She paused, fiddling with her fingers nervously. "Are you mad at me?"

He looked back over to her, shaking his head softly. "No, I'm not mad at you. You're fine, I'm just.. lost, I guess," he said, his voice not holding the cheerful bounciness if usually did. 

"You're lost?" she exclaimed, perking up. "I am too!"

He tilted his head again, wondering how she was lost. She seemed to know just who and what she was. "You're lost?"

"Yeah!" she said with a nod, before glancing down, her face setting into a scared and sad frown. "I ran away from home.. and now I don't know where I am."

She must mean a different kind of lost, he thought to himself. He suddenly felt bad for her. He was didn't know where he was either, and wanted to go to a place he that would comfort and welcome him. He could feel her pain, and now he wanted to help her. Would helping her somehow make him feel better? It seemed like a good idea to him.   
He leaned down, offering her a little smile, his visor turning up a little. "Well, how about I help you find your.. home, you called it? I'm sure I can find it! I wander around a lot!" He held out his hand for her to climb onto. She would fit in his hand, right?

Sarah perked up, her eyes sparkling with hope. "Really?! You can take me home?"

"Sure!" he said, feeling more confident in himself. It couldn't be that hard, could it? He grinned as she nodded and carefully climbed into his palm. He cupped her in his hands and stood up slowly, so not to jostle her. He suddenly grew excited, a bit of a skip in his step. He realized that this was the first time he had talked to anyone, and that made him really happy. 

"Thanks," he said as he began walking forward. "I've never talked to anyone before."

She looked up at him in surprise. "You don't have any friends?!" she exclaimed in complete disbelief.

His head fell to the left a little, and once again he was confused and curious. "What's a friend?"

She gaped at him in shock. "Someone you talk to, and hang out with, and play with, and spend time with, and hug, and do silly things, and read books, and go outside, and pretend, and all sorts of fun things!" She shook her head. "You don't have one of those?"

He shook his head, watching her with wonder. "No, but that sounds amazing! I wish I had friends." He sighed again, pausing where he stood. "It would be really nice."

"I'll be your friend!" Sarah blurted, her eyes sparkling. She beamed up at him brightly, suddenly very excited. "Let's be friends! You're weird, but I like you!"

It felt like his insides lifted inside his chest, and he visibly stood taller. His eyes were wide under the visor and he was beaming like crazy. "Really?! You like me? We can be friends?"

She nodded furiously, lifting up her hand. "Yeah! Let's pinkie swear! That way we'll be friends forever and ever and ever!" She stuck out her smaller finger, then realized he probably didn't know what a pinkie swear was. "You wrap your pinkie around mine!"

A little hesitantly, he held up his hand and jabbed his pinkie towards her gently. Sarah then seemed to realize her own little finger would never be able to wrap around his. She ummed quietly, searching for a way around it, before shrugging and grabbing his pinkie with her entire hand. She shook it firmly a few times while he watched in wonder, amazed by this foreign ritual.

"There!" she said cheerfully, letting go and looking up at him. "Now we're friends forever!"

In that moment, his world revolved around this one little girl.


	2. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I thought about splitting this into two chapters, but it didn't seem to flow as well, so I put them together. Sorry for the super long chapter!

"Optimus!" 

The Prime turned a little sharply when his old friend suddenly called his designation. Ratchet's voice held a bit of surprise and excitement to it, and hearing something like that from the medic usually called him to attention immediately. The other Autobots, all previously talking with their human charges, also all perked up when they heard the call. The chatter went silent as their leader walked over to the console where Ratchet stood. 

"What have you found, Ratchet?" Optimus asked, peering up at the screen before him. A blue light flashed in the center of a map, though where on earth it was showing he was not certain. He was not yet completely familiar with all of the places on this new planet, even though he studied as much as he could to become more familiar with it. 

The medic looked up at him, not smiling, but a bit of relief and hope flickering in his optics. "My systems just uncovered an exposed Energon source," he said, tapping away at the console for a moment. The screen zoomed in on the source, the light blinking brighter. "It's located in Wyoming, in a secluded area. A forest, it looks like," he explained, reading several things that popped up on his screen. 

At his point, the other bots had all made their way over to investigate as well. Optimus felt a surge of relief flood into his chest chassis, and the others all looked fairly excited and relaxed as well. Their lack of Energon in storage had been weighing down on them for some time now, their need to stock up getting more and more dire by the cycles. Optimus was glad that a signal had finally popped up, though he doubted it was a pure stroke of luck.

"And the source was only just now uncovered?" he asked, a hint of skepticism in his deep, commanding voice. 

Ratchet nodded, stroking his chin thoughtfully as he continued to stare at the monitor. "Yes, it appeared only moments ago," he answered.

"Is that something we should be worried about?" Bulkhead asked worriedly, his optic ridges furrowing. Optimus felt a bit bad for the ex-wrecker, knowing how anxious the large bot could get. 

Arcee crossed her arms, her opal optics flickering with distrust and concern. "It could be a Decepticon trap," she said in a low voice. "It's not the first time we've ever come across a target that seemed to easy."

Bee whirred his agreement, the normal chipperness in his buzzing sounding deflated and disappointed. The bots all shared a look, their previous relief turning into feelings of anxiety all over again. Optimus turned to look back at the monitor again, narrowing his optics ever so slightly. 

"While that is a possibility," Ratchet finally said, breaking the tense silence, "it could just be likely that the signal only appeared now because it was weak." He pointed up to the flashing dot on the screen. "The Energon readings are not very high, so it could have just taken the computer until now to register it."

"And there are no open Decepticon signals in the area?" Optimus inquired, continuing to watch the monitor as his friend was. 

The medic shook his helm. "None. The area seems fairly barren of any activity. If there's anything, it's not enough for the system to pick up."

the scout warbled, shrugging his shoulder plates. 

"Bee's right," Bulkhead added. "They already have their servos on most of the mines that have a large stockpile. Would they waste troops on such a small amount?"

"Should we?" Arcee chimed in, clearly unsure about the idea of heading over there to check. "If it really is a small amount, is it worth the risk?"

Silence fell over them again for several moments, and Optimus could feel their optics occasionally flicking over to him. Once again, he felt a surge of responsibility, as he should as a Prime. He pondered over the options to himself for a minute; he did not like putting anyone at risk, but a big part of war was making hard choices and even making sacrifices. They desperately needed to restock on Energon at the moment, and the insufficient evidence that they were really in any danger made him doubt Arcee's idea to leave the matter alone. Glancing over his team, he could see their hopes being smashed down to their pedes. The Prime always tried to keep his team as encouraged as possible, and even if there were risks, right now, the outcomes where better in their favor. 

Making his decision, he turned to Ratchet, gesturing to the GroundBridge. "Ratchet, set the coordinates. We will search the area and look for the source of the Energon. While I do not wish to put us in more danger than necessary, if there are Decepticons at this mine, it may be the best course of action to try and overpower them. We are in too much need of supplies to turn down this offer." He turned to look at his team, a softness creeping over his voice. "We may not get another chance like this in the near future."

The warriors all glanced at each other, as if having a silent conversation, before one by one they nodded in agreement. Arcee seemed to be the most on edge with the idea, but the Prime knew she could handle herself if battle did come to pass. She did seem to be a little relieved with the fact that their chances of resupplying themselves were higher now that the decision was made. Bumblebee chirped more cheerfully and fist-pumped his green friend, encouraging Bulkhead greatly. Optimus let the corners of his derma curl up ever so slightly as the GroundBridge opened. 

"If anything goes wrong," Ratchet told them as they began to transform, "I would advice heading back to base immediately. If one of you is injured, I cannot afford for any of you to continue with the battle. I only have enough Energon to refill one of you," he added with a bit of regret in his voice. 

Optimus nodded solemnly to his old friend before transforming into his alt. mode. His engine roared to life and he rushed through the swirling green portal, his friends licking at his heels. The four of them GroundBridged into the middle of a thickly wooded forest. As Optimus changed back into his biped mode, quickly on alert and transforming his servos into blasters, he struggled not to run helm-first into a tree. The others also felt very constricted in the trees, Arcee the only one who seemed to be able to move around more smoothly. 

Optimus' mouth guard slid over his faceplate, his optics scanning the area smoothly and carefully. His spark was calm as he forced himself to be calm, not moving a nanite until he knew the coast was clear. His limited vision swept over everything it could, and once he confirmed that they were safe for now, he ushered for the others to follow his lead. They nodded curtly and followed, Bumblebee covering the right, Bulkhead watching the back, and Arcee keeping left. Each of them had their weapons at the ready. 

For several minutes, all signs showed that their had been no activity as of late. Optimus felt his plating begin to relax ever so slightly as they moved on, and the others' movements became more fluid, less tense and anxious. They moved around the forest the best they could, maneuvering around the thickly wooded area. As they went along, the area began to clear up a little to where they could move more freely. Optimus noticed that they were slowly heading more downhill, though it was not a significant difference. 

Then something caught his optic, making his spark beat just the slightest bit faster for the briefest of moments. Up ahead, he could see places in the ground where the earth had been disturbed by something hard and heavy. As he observed it more closely, slowing his pace a little more, he could tell that they were pedeprints, not much larger than their scout's. His optics narrowed and he slowed to a stop, noticing something else wrong with the form of the ground. 

The others all paused beside him, tensing up as soon as they saw that their leader was observing something. "What is it?" Arcee hissed quietly. 

Optimus slowly dropped to one knee, his servo taking place of the blaster he had had at the ready. Without replying, for he did not have a definite answer yet, he dragged his digits along the uneven mounds of earth that he had found alongside the pedeprints. As he followed the trail slowly, he saw that it was as if something large had been dragged across the ground. However, whatever had happened conspired a long time ago. He had not noticed the shift in the ground until now, the crevice wide enough to where a two Bumblebee's could lay across. Grass had grown over it, and over the time that it had been there, the earth had shifted so that it looked more normal, more clean. He hummed quietly to himself, lifting his head to follow the crevice. He saw whatever had caused this shift in the ground had gone a long way. 

"It seems as though something was dragged along here," he said as he stood up, gesturing to the ground. "It is possible something large crash-landed here."

The others all exchanged looks of surprise and disbelief. For a moment, no more words were said as they observed what Optimus had discovered. The Prime watched as their optics widened with realization. 

"You're saying a pod crash-landed here?" Arcee said, her voice a little breathless out of disbelief. "On earth?"

Optimus nodded once, though he was not of course certain of this observation. "There is a chance that is what occurred here, yes," he told them. "However, whatever transpired was a many cycles ago. The ground has long begun to revert back to its natural state." He once again gestured to the dip in the ground. 

While the other two took a closer look, faceplates skeptical, the scout nodded in agreement. he chirped matter-of-factly. 

Optimus was a little surprised by Bumblebee's certain knowledge of these things, but then thought that it should not be all that shocking. Bee was a scout, trained to notice these differences in the area around them. Arcee and Bulkhead, however, did not seem to piece that together, optic ridges raised in surprise. 

The scout crossed his arms and pouted, looking slightly embarrassed. he mumbled in his broken voice. 

The Prime did not want Bumblebee to look down on this observation and patted the smaller bot on the shoulder plate. "A good observation, Bumblebee," he praised calmly. "We are glad to have your scout training with us."

The yellow one smiled up at him from behind the face mask, whirring lightly in gratefulness. The others all nodded, Bulkhead quickly offering an apology if they made him feel embarrassed. Optimus smiled slightly, enjoying every minute of his team interacting like this. He was always happy to see them act as a family. 

"Proceed with even greater caution," he said after a moment, returning Team Prime back to the mission. He turned slowly, drawing his blasters again as the others took their previous formations around him and went along with him, back to their battle ready moods. Although he would not say so out loud, Optimus was getting fairly anxious now. A pod of this size on earth could indicate that Megatron had called for more Decepticons. Arcee had informed them that Arachnid had arrived on the last known crash-landing they had investigated.

More enemies meant more battles. And Optimus wanted nothing more than to end this war. The less physical combat there was, the better. To him, peace was not achieved with violence. However, war said otherwise. 

After carefully making their way through the clearing for nearly twenty more minutes, he could finally make out the pod in the distance. Even from a distance, he could tell that it was some sort of escape pod, though it was heavily damaged. Several parts were broken and falling of the ship. As they got closer, he could confirm that this had crashed a long time ago, wild vines and moss growing over the outer rims. Several pieces of the ship were scattered around it, a large opening on the side, big enough for Megatron to fit through. What Optimus guessed was the latched door was on the ground off to the side, as if discarded without a second thought. Behind him, his team carefully looked over the pod as well, their expressions wavering.

Then came the voices. 

"This is your own ship! You should be more careful around it!"

The Autobots all froze in their tracks, their blasters whirring as they built up the power while pointing it immediately towards the ship. The voices continued, not having heard this.

"I know, I know, I'm really sorry!" another voice replied, sounding stressed. "I swear I didn't do that on purpose."

The other voice, female, laughed. "You dork. Normally you aren't so clumsy."

Optimus glanced back to his team, moving faintly while gesturing them to surround the ship. The voices sounded lighthearted, but one could never be to certain. They nodded at him and circled around the ship, avoiding being seen. The Prime slowly crept towards the open entrance, blaster at the ready.

A new voice entered the conversation, a raspy male voice. "Well, whatever you did, it broke something. That alarm had to be going off for thirty minutes!"

"I didn't know how to turn it off!"

"Again, this is your ship!"

"You two know that I don't know how to work it!"

As Optimus approached, listening to the conversation, he began to feel slightly.. confused. Whoever was in there did not seem to have any idea of how to handle the ship, keep it intact, or even turn off alarms. Just what kind of alarm had he set off? How long had these bots remained with the ship? He narrowed his optics, knowing his questions would be answered soon. He pressed his backside against the pod, closing in on the entrance. 

"Well, at least we turned it off. You have the fuel?" the raspy voice asked. 

"Yeah, I've got it." The voice paused. "Well, most of it. Should I got back for some more?"

"Probably."

"Can I help?"

The raspy voice groaned, chuckling a bit, while the other seemed panicked about the idea. "Sarah, no! You know that this stuff isn't good for humans!"

Optimus froze, optics widening. Humans?

Almost right after the thought, two humans exited the pod. One was a male, hair colored a strange brown color that looked almost orange in the sunlight. He had a grin over his face, dancing green eyes playful as he pulled another shorter human out from the pod. The other was a teenage girl, possibly no older than Miko. Her hair was similar to the you man's, but not as bright colored. Her eyes matched the other human's, but her spirit seemed much more rowdy. She struggled as the male pulled her out of the pod, protesting loudly. 

These humans seemed to be in no immediate danger.. judging by their behavior, they actually felt rather comfortable and relaxed, as if what was going on around them was normal. Optimus felt himself lower his blasters slowly, his plates relaxing again. In that moment, the male human turned his head to look back at the girl being dragged alongside him. His eyes were instantly drawn to the mismatched red and blue colors behind them and he gasped, letting go of the girl and jumping back. 

"Kyle?" the girl asked tentatively as he continued to stare, mouth gaping open. She glanced behind her quickly, her reaction very similar. 

Optimus froze in place, his spark beginning to hammer loudly in his chest. His optics were wider as well, a the smallest bit of panic leaking into his expression. For several moments there was complete silence. He dared move his optics, looking to the left, in the direction he had seen Bumblebee head to surround the pod. Out of the corner of his vision, he could see that Bumblebee was watching around the corner, his faceplate showing that he was obviously worried and anxious. 

"Poppin!" the girl suddenly shrieked, a huge grin spreading over her face. Her green eyes sparkled with wonder and she suddenly ran over to the Prime, startling him. He backed up a little, changing one blaster back into his servo and raising it in on instinct, in hopes he would appear as less of a threat. The girl stopped a few feet in front of him, doubling over and laughing while holding her knees. "Poppin, get out here right now! You won't believe this!" She seemed so ecstatically happy that it left Optimus very confused as to why. 

"One second!" the voice called from inside, the same as the one who had mentioned that they were humans. 

Optimus started when he saw the rest of his team rush in, blasters at the ready. He could only guess that when the girl had begun shouting loudly, it had panicked the other three and they came running to protect their leader. While he was touched and proud of them for their quick thinking, he also did not want to appear as a threat to the humans. When Bulkhead and Arcee saw that they were not Decepticons, as they had been expected, their forms faltered slightly.

"There's more of them?!" the raspy-voiced man cried, hurrying over to the girl and grabbing her shoulders protectively.

The girl turned to him excitedly, her eyes wide. "Kyle, do you know what this means?? Poppin isn't the only one! There are more of him!" She pointed up to Optimus, then to the others. "I mean, just look!"

Just at that moment, heavy steps could be heard coming from the pod. Not even a moment later, a Cybertronian walked out of the open entrance, carrying a few stacks of Energon cubes. He was a mixture of bright neon colors, mostly pink and blue that darkened towards his center. The colors blended in with each other so easily it was like looking at a bright pink sunset in the dimming blue sky. He had an orange visor over his optics and a facemask slid over the rest of his faceplate. He was small for a Cybertronian, nearly a helm shorter than Bumblebee. The stacks of Energon were hiding his breastplate, so none of the Autobots could tell if he was on there side, or if he was a Decepticon. 

For a few seconds, there was utter silence. Optimus stared at the new bot with wide optics, surprise hitting him like waves. The rest of the team was also fairly shocked, frozen in place with their blasters aimed at both the humans and the new bot that had appeared. The Cybertronian was still for a moment, before he suddenly dropped all of the Energon cubes and dashed forwards. Optimus jumped back, the others instinctively tagging behind him and getting into battle ready stances. 

However, the small bot was not attacking them. Instead, he quickly scooped up the humans, which they seemed perfectly fine with, and held them close to his chest chassis, his optic ridges furrowed nervously. "Don't hurt them! These are my friends!" he shouted, his voice stammering ever so slightly. "Put the.. put the weird guns down!"

Bulkhead and Arcee exchanged flabbergasted looks with one another, their plating relaxing ever so slightly. "Weird guns?" the ex-wrecker repeated, raising an optic ridge.

Optimus was overflowing with questions. Who was this? How did he know the humans? How had he arrived here? Was he on there side? He felt a little childish with all of those things running around in his mind, but he was rightfully confused. He put his blaster away immediately, ushering for the others to do the same. Even if this was a Decepticon, if they could remain civil throughout this encounter, then perhaps they could come to a peaceful solution. 

"We will not attack, friend," Optimus said calmly, holding out his servos in front of him. "I apologize if we alarmed you. We assumed you were the enemy." 

The Cybertronian seemed to relax a little, tipping his helm to the side while his optic ridges displayed his confusion. "Enemy? What enemy?" he asked, his voice lifting a little bit.

The team displayed visible signs of shock and disbelief, Bee whirring in surprise. he chirped. 

He shook his helm slightly. "Who are they?"

Optimus cast a glance back to the others, who all stared back at him with wide optics. This Cybertronian did not know who the Decepticons were. He most likely had not chosen a side. Did the poor mech even know where he was from?

"Poppin!" cried the teen girl, looking up at the bot. "Can you believe it? They're like you!"

The small Cybertronian, Poppin, glanced down at his human friend, then back up to the team. He leaned his helm forward, studying them with silence and furrowed optic ridges. Then, he perked up, his visor glowing a little bit in excitement. "Holy crap, you're right!" he exclaimed. Without setting them down, he suddenly hurried towards them, stopping just in front of Optimus and staring up at him with what the Prime could only guess was a bright expression. "You guys are robots too! Like me!"

Optimus had taken a step back, a little surprised by Poppin's sudden approach. For a moment, he was dumbfounded, for the first time in many, many cycles. He had no idea how to reply to this bot. He was most definitely Cybertronian; or was he? He looked that way, and all evidence pointed to the fact that it had been his pod that had crash-landed here. Yet Poppin did not seem to understand that he was alien to this planet, instead believing he were some sort of.. creation from this world. 

"I am sorry," he apologized, "I am afraid I am not catching on."

Bumblebee raised his servo, nodding. 

Poppin raised his optic ridges, taking a step back. "Oh! Sorry! Didn't mean to go to fast for you guys." He backed away a bit more, setting the two humans on each shoulder plate. There they sat, watching with obvious confusion and excitement. "Let's start with names. That's usually how people introduce each other, right?" He extended his servo to the Prime. "My name's Poppin!"

Hesitantly, Optimus took the servo firmly, shaking it once. "My name is Optimus Prime. This is Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee," he told him, swinging his helm a little to gesture to each bot. 

Poppin nodded, and the Prime could practically see that he was smiling under his mask. "Nice to meet you guys!"

From his left shoulder plate, the teen girl crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Those are some weird names. Was the person who built you five years old or something?" she asked sarcastically. 

Poppin jumped, turning his helm to glare at her. "Sarah! Don't talk to them like that! Isn't that rude?!" he cried, waving his servos in the air quickly to try and shush her. "Sorry about that. She really tends to speak her mind," he told them, laughing awkwardly. 

Arcee raised an optic ridge, clearly suspicious. "Built us?"

Bulkhead scratched his helm, taking the brunt of the confusion. "I don't follow.. we're Cybertronian, from the planet Cybertron? Aren't you?"

This seemed to leave Poppin and his human friends in quite a shock. The humans' eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of their heads, while Poppin's plating was raised. For another awkward set of minutes, there was silence. Finally, the small Cybertronian shook his helm in disbelief. 

"You're saying you guys are aliens?" he asked, his voice light. "Like in sci-fi books?" He pointed to himself, clearly distraught. "And I'm one, too?"

"We always thought Poppin was built!" the young man, Kyle, said. 

Optimus glanced back at the others, concern in his optics. The others were no longer anxious and now very confused and worried about the bot in front of them. They could hardly believe that he did not know his own lineage. The Prime excused himself and his team for a moment, leading them a distance away to speak privately with them. 

"Maybe he's right," Bulkhead suggested. "In his case, I mean. Maybe someone built him? I mean, MECH has come pretty close before."

Bee whirred, shaking his helm. 

"That explains the signal Ratchet picked up," Arcee added. "But why wouldn't we have found something before if that pod has been there for so long?"

"I overheard them scorning Poppin for breaking something on the ship," Optimus explained. "It is likely that he may have accidently shut down the ship's cloaking system. Ratchet was only able to locate the exposed Energon afterwards."

"Then all evidence leads to the bot, Poppin, to be one of us, right? One of our kind?" Bulkhead asked, clearly flabbergasted. 

Optimus nodded once. "From all indications. However, he does not seem to be aware of that."

"No kidding," Arcee grumbled, crossing her arms. "This kid seems to think some humans built him." She narrowed her optics as she glanced back at the bot, who was waiting patiently near his pod. "A likely story," she added with a scoff. "He could just be a Decepticon, but won't tell us that in order to learn some inside information."

The Prime shook his helm. "I do not believe that Poppin is aware of the Decepticon faction, if he is not aware of his own lineage."

Bumblebee asked. 

The Prime thought it over for a moment, but in the end he came to the same conclusion that he had already been leaning towards. "The wisest course of action at the time may be to take Poppin and his human allies to base. We will have more recourses to learn about Poppin there, and hopefully he will come to understand where he is from if he has more access to Cybertronian technology."

The three others once again exchanged looks, unsure vibes surrounding them. Optimus was a little worried that they would disagree, but he was assured once they all nodded in agreement slowly. Smiling a little as an apology, he lifted his digits to his audio receptor, tapping into their comm frequency. "Ratchet, we require a bridge. We will be bringing a few guests with us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was super surprised to have gotten all the good feedback that I did about this fic, and you have no idea how much it means to me. I was inspired to update this work faster than I had originally anticipated. I hope you all enjoy it as much as the last chapter! Thank you so much for the positivity!


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